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- Dhanalakshmi’s Story
Dhanalakshmi’s Mission: Combating Crop Loss with Smart Agritech Solutions
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Dhanalakshmi grew up in Chennai in a humble, middle-class family that valued education and hard work. Surrounded by the everyday challenges of life, she developed a deep empathy for communities often overlooked, especially farmers. Though she had a strong interest in both technology and social impact, she wasn’t sure how to bridge the two. That changed when she began noticing the scale of crop loss due to weed infestation. With a vision to support farmers and modernize agriculture, she set out to create a solution, but had no idea where to begin.
We saw that nearly 40% of crops were being affected because of weeds. Farmers were struggling, facing huge losses—and that’s when we knew we had to build something to solve this. 
We were able to support Dhanalakshmi in developing Microzard, a practical, affordable solution for real world agricultural challenges. Through structured MVP training, expert mentorship, and feedback, we helped the team focus on building a low cost, farmer friendly device while understanding the distinct needs of different markets, advanced features for larger players and affordability for small farmers, insights they gained from domain specific experts.
Dhanalakshmi’s vision was to combine machine learning, AI, and robotics into a tool for identifying and managing weed infestations. She and her team developed Microzard, tested its viability, and refined it by gathering field data, studying weed variations, and engaging with farmers to ensure real world relevance. Balancing academics, exams, and the project was a major challenge, but the team learned to manage their time effectively and stay committed to their goal.
Today, Dhanalakshmi is working on scaling Microzard beyond its initial prototype, seeking funding to complete the hardware build and pilot it in various Indian states. She’s focused on making the product affordable, accessible, and impactful for small scale farmers who need it most. This journey has not only deepened her understanding of agritech, but also strengthened her leadership, resilience, and belief in the power of purpose-driven collaboration to solve real problems on the ground.
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